Barcelona Aiming to Pile More Misery on Real Madrid in El Clasico

It’s a midday start (UK time) for the first El Clasico of the season as Real Madrid face Barcelona in a pre-Christmas showdown at the top of La Liga. The visitors sit top of the table with 42 points collected from their opening 16 matches and remain unbeaten so far. They are six points ahead of 2nd place Atletico Madrid and are looking like real title contenders even at this early stage of the campaign.

It’s been an indifferent start for Zinedine Zidane’s Real Madrid, who have failed to impress during the opening three months of the season. They’ve played a game less than their rivals due to their participation in the Club World Cup but that doesn’t excuse their two defeats and four draws from their opening 15 encounters. They could welcome Gareth Bale back for this match and the Welsh winger will need to be at his best as he aims to break through a defence which has conceded just seven times since August.

Here at BettingTop10, you can find details of all the top UK online bookmakers including 888Sport, who have made Real Madrid the 11/10 favourites for this clash and it has been labelled as a ‘must-win’ clash by Los Blancos supporters, who are desperate to see their side close the gap. Barcelona have been made the 28/13 outsiders for this contest and a victory here will surely leave the title race as a one horse race for the remainder of the campaign.

Ernesto Valverde’s side have been incredibly consistent and could welcome back Rafinha to their side with the Brazilian having been given the all-clear following a knee operation. If the visitors were to suffer their first defeat of the season at the Bernabeu, it would help close the gap to just eight points which could soon become five if the hosts win their game in hand. The Blaugrana would arguably be happy to leave the Spanish capital with a point but they could easily send Real Madrid’s title hopes up in smoke with another three points here.